I tried talking my son into a HT with some nice reasonable geometry when we were seeking to upgrade his bike. We settled on this. Six inches of fun. He loves it:
USE Carbon bars, Hope stem, i950 dropper seatpost with remote, XT mechs with XTR shifters and SLX chainset. Hope Hubs with M717 rims, Magura Louise Brakes (180/160), Rock Shox Revelations (110/140mm).
Best bike I've ridden in a very very long time (ruined by a crappy picture of it )